This book, edited for the World Bank by individuals noted for
their expertise, discusses food-policy issues in developing
countries, with comparable attention to supply, distribution, and
consumption. The introduction points out that one of the goals of
a broad-based food policy should be to prevent marginal
inadequacies at both the individual and national levels, so that,
if crises do occur, they will not result either in individual
cases of acute malnutrition or in famines.

These 38 articles were excerpted for the use of specialists or
students concerned with food policy who are discipline-oriented
but who recognize that food policy must be broadly based. Several
sections provide an overview of current thinking on food policy
and the world situation with respect to production, trade,
security, and distribution of food. Other sections deal with a
set of difficult distribution issues and with the major nutrient
deficiencies of the developing world-protein-energy malnutrition,
iron-deficiency anaemia, vitamin-A deficiency, and
iodine-deficiency disorders.

A final section examines past food and nutrition planning and
concludes that it was not well integrated, as it focused mainly
on sector programmes that were usually poorly implemented. Some
recent successes are included, however.

Many of these articles would difficult to locate if they were
not conveniently assembled in this book. The publication contains
valuable guidance on nutrition policy and is strongly recommended
for all concerned in this vital area.

There is no more significant theme in twentieth century
nutrition research than the relationship between malnutrition and
learning and behaviour. Reviews, whether of journal or book
length, are no substitute for the classic original articles on
which knowledge in this field is based. Brozek, who has
participated personally in the research and scientific meetings
in the field almost from its beginning, has selected 28 of the
most significant articles published from 1946 to 1984 and two
even earlier ones.

The volume begins with two papers on the behaviour
consequences of malnutrition studied in a community during World
War I and in a university laboratory during World War II. The
body of the volume is devoted to both pioneering clinical studies
and intervention efforts. It closes with articles that place
behavioural research on malnutrition within a broader framework
of research on nutrition and behaviour. The concluding overview,
author citation index, and subject index are helpful.

Everyone concerned with human nutrition, development, and
behaviour will appreciate the opportunity to find carefully
edited excerpts from these classic studies in a single volume.

This is an important book for persons responsible for or
interested in national food and nutrition policies. It adds to
the small number of documented cases in which a change in
national policy proved capable of bringing about an almost
immediate improvement in food production, and also highlights the
vulnerability of policies to change in government. This edited
volume with 16 chapters documents the origins, implementation,
results, and demise of the Sistema Alimentario Mexicano ISAM),
Mexico's effort initiated in 1980 to stimulate food production by
peasants, achieve food self-sufficiency, and improve the
distribution and consumption of food.

The programme was developed when it became clear that an
agriculture policy focused on production increases alone had led
to nutritional deficits, low production, rural poverty, and
massive migration to the cities. By 1982 it was clear that food
production by peasants was increasing, Mexico was approaching
self-sufficiency once again, and consumption among the poor had
increased. Just as evidence of its success was accumulating, a
change in government and almost immediately a severe economic
crisis due to the fall in the price of oil ended the programme
three years after it was begun. This book is written
authoritatively by individuals who were close observers,
policy-makers, or managers of SAM. The editors, distinguished
academics, themselves observers of SAM, provide valuable
introductory and final chapters. Persons responsible for national
food and nutrition policies of food-short countries can learn a
great deal from Mexico's experience.

This is a comprehensive review of infant-feeding practices,
infant feeding and maternal nutrition, and the significance to
the household of an infant member. It describes concisely but
completely the relationships between infant feeding and
morbidity, growth, and overall health as well as that between
maternal nutrition and infant health. The chapter on infant
feeding, fecundity, and fertility is well documented and
informative. An unusual feature is the chapter on the effect of
having an infant in the household on costs, time allocation, and
home production. A brief summary chapter explains the title in
terms of the interactions between infant, mother, and the rest of
the household. The book is recommended for its content and
readability.

How to weigh and measure children: Assessing
the nutritional status of young children in household surveys.
United Nations, New York, 1986. (DP/UN/INT-81-041/6E)

This profusely illustrated guide produced for the National
Household Survey Capability Programme describes step by step the
precautions to take before measuring children's weight and
height, and the actual measurement procedures. The section on
quality control is important and well done. Annexes give
additional guidance on selecting personnel, assessing age,
standardizing equipment, and procedures for standardizing the
collection of anthropometric data in the field as well as a check
list of field equipment. A separate, removable annex summarizes
the procedures and could be useful as a guide for training and
initial standardization of procedures. This publication is highly
recommended.